Take it Like a Man
by Luci-Marlena
Summary: Alpha to Alpha talk. Sam and Jake. "Yet, the moment he hears that we’re together, he drops everything, his imprint, patrol, and whatever the fck else he does , to come and harass me? Someone needs to teach this prick a lesson." Blackwater.


**Disclaimer:** All of the characters, concepts, and anything affiliated with the _Twilight_ saga belong to (their rightful owner) Stephanie Meyer. The rest of the work belongs to me and should not be copied in any way, including translations, without my explicit consent.

Major thanks to Flyaway Dove for Beta-ing this.

Set: Sometime after BD.

Note: Jake's imprinting on Nessie happened but broke.

**Jake**** POV**

* * *

'_You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.'_ Winston Churchill

_Take it Like a Man_

For as long as I can remember I have hated Samuel Levi Uley. Before he threatened to kill Bella when she was pregnant, (forcing me to break off from the pack), before he made plans to kill my imprint, before I phased and had to choose between following my birthright by leading or following his leadership, before everything mythical, I hated Sam Uley with a passion.

I hated him because of what he had, or rather who: _Leah._ He had her as his girlfriend. All through high school they were together; the "it" couple. You know the couple: the one that everyone says will marry after high school, have two kids, a dog, a nice home, and a white picket fence. The couple everyone talked about, the type everyone in a relationship wanted to have.

It was nauseating.

Every time I saw him, (which was rare since he was in grade eleven and in high school, and I was in grade seven and in middle school), I just wanted to smack him for being so lucky to be able to have Leah by his side. He must have noticed the looks I was giving him because one day he caught me outside of school and told me to stay away from Leah. Not one to be intimidated, I glared at him and told him that Leah can talk to anyone she wants, and if she decided that she wanted to talk to me that I was not going to let a big jock like him stop me from talking to her.

That was when it happened. Sam had taken my lunchbox and dumped its contents into a nearby trashcan. Cursing him under my breath, I reached inside and grabbed my lunch one item at a time. Just as I was going to get my sandwich, Sam yelled, "Oh my god! That's disgusting! Jacob Black is getting his lunch from the garbage!"

Everyone around us then started to gag and yell things like, "That's so gross!" "Ew! What a freak!" and "Trash can feeder!" Liking the insult, everyone started to chant, "Trash can feeder!" and continued to do so all throughout the day.

All of my friends left, not wanting to be seen with someone so disgusting, everyone except for Quil and Embry. They stuck by me the entire time.

Once school ended, I ran all the way home. Humiliated, I went to lock myself in my room until Christmas, only to be stopped by my Dad. He said he knew what happened, (word travels fast in a small town like ours), and to not hide away like some coward because _Sam Uley _did something to me.

"You're a Black, Jacob," he told me. "We've been through worse. You just have to _take it like a man."_

From then on, I followed his advice. Whenever something bad happened, I took it like a man.

Phasing for the first time, having to keep my wolf form a secret from Quil, (until he phased), dealing with a bitter Leah and her insults, getting my whole right side crushed for Leah, Bella leaving me for her popsicle husband, abandoning my old pack to protect a pregnant Bella, listening to Bella's heartbeat fade into nothing, imprinting on Nessie simultaneously crushing Leah…I took it all like a man.

Yet, the moment _he_ hears that we're together, he drops everything, (his imprint, patrol, and whatever the fuck else he does), to come and harass me? Someone needs to teach this prick a lesson.

I phase just as he does and throw on the pair of shorts tied around my ankle.

"How did you do it?" Sam demands. He isn't wasting any time, now is he?

Wanting to annoy him, I play dumb. "Huh?"

He lets out an impatient breath before asking, "With Leah, how did you do it?"

My eyes widen in mock recognition of what he's asking. "Oh, you mean no one has told you?"

Sam shakes his head and taps his foot impatiently.

Internally, I smirk. Looks like someone's antsy.

I nod. "Okay, I guess I'll explain." I let out a sigh. Chuckling, I rub the back of my neck and tell him, "This is going to be a tad awkward." I look him dead in the eye and tell him in a mock parenting tone, "Now Sam, when two people love each other very, very much, they do something called sex. It's an act of love, and –"

Blushing slightly, (probably at the thought of Leah and I having sex- which, for the record, was amazing), he growls, "I don't mean _that."_

"Oh! _Really?_ So you _do_ know how to please a woman? Well, from what Leah's told me, I wasn't too sure," I tell him, genuinely surprised.

Leah told me all about her first time with Sam and how awkward it was for her. Apparently, she had to stop herself from asking, "That's it?" two minutes after he "began the lovin'" (Sam's words, not mine, and definitely not Leah's). The second time they did it was the last time since Emily came to Leah's the next week. "And thank God for that!" she told me, "Do you know how awkward it is having to pretend to be enjoying yourself when you feel like someone is poking and prodding you down there?" Although, she told me that he did improve, (slightly), by lasting a whole five minutes.

What a stallion.

Breaking from my reverie, I watch as Sam growls even more and begins to shake. Smirking, I look at how angry he is that Leah shared their "special moment" with me. He tries to calm down by taking deep breaths. After a few minutes he's finally calm enough to ask, "How did you give her up for Leah? How did you break the connection?"

I groan, knowing that "her" refers to Nessie, my imprint. _Ex,_ I mentally correct myself, ex-imprint.

I look up at the sky and shake my head. Why does no one understand that imprinting isn't 100%? For God's sake, not all of the information from the legends is accurate.

Case and point is the whole 'only men can phase' part of the legends. Okay, sure, in the beginning, that made sense. And then Leah came. I'm thinking that part of the legend is wrong, (especially since she's my Beta).

Sam looks at me expectantly, like I'm going to tell him that it was all a lie and that Sue and my Dad were lying, that the imprint wasn't broken and I'm still tied to Nessie.

Noticing that I'm not going to explain how the imprint connection is gone, Sam does what he does best: he makes an ass of himself by opening his big, fat trap.

"The imprint connection is very strong," he says. It's as if he's trying to convince himself that, since he couldn't have broken the imprint, then I couldn't have broken the connection, (because if the 'Great Sam Uley' can't do it, no one can).

Repressing the urge to stick my tongue out and yell, "Yeah? Well I did it because I'm better than you, so _there!_" I close my eyes and pray for patience. Whenever anyone finds out about our relationship, they always ask about my imprinting.

'_But what about your imprint?' _I mean, jeez, what about her? I imprinted, and then I broke it. We still love each other, (platonically). We're _friends._ I know this, she knows this, the Cullens know this, my pack (now) knows this, and most importantly, (she's the only one I care about), Leah knows this. So, if thirteen people believe me, why doesn't he?

Frustrated, I shake my head and try to explain the complicated bonds of imprinting and how there are ways it can actually free us. "She needed a friend, all of the imprints do. We just impose ourselves on the boyfriend role. I didn't want that, I didn't want any of it. I wanted to have the boyfriend role, all roles, for someone else, for Leah."

Sam still looks confused. "But the legends-"

I cut him off, "The legends must be wrong. Hell, look at Leah. She's a woman who can turn into a wolf when the legends say it's only men. Maybe I'm stronger than the imprint pull, maybe our imprint connection was weaker. Honestly, I don't care. All I know is that I am where I am today, with Leah, because I wanted her more than _anyone_ else." I glare at him.

I wanted her more than _him._ I wanted her so much that I actually fought for her.

Looking at him, I finally realize why he's here. He wants her. _Still. _After everything he's put her through, after breaking her heart by imprinting on her cousin, after marrying and having two kids with Emily, his imprint, he still wants her. _Leah._

I shoot a vicious glare at him. _'Y__ou want her? __I've__ got her.'_

I've got to make him understand how he lost his chance. He didn't fight; he didn't want her hard enough. He lost her. He gave up.

I didn't.

I worked day and night trying to break the bond, to change it somehow. And I did.

It's gone and I'm free to be with Leah. _My_ Leah.

Wanting to put an end to this and get back to Leah, I tell him, "You had your chance Sam. You had your chance and you threw it away."

He had the chance to break the imprint, to fight for Leah. He just didn't take it.

Turning around, I tell him, "It's not my fault that I'm grabbing onto mine for dear life."

Running back to Leah, I hear a pained howl. I shake my head and think about Sam. _'You've got to take it like a man.'_

* * *

**I wrote this because I love thinking how Sam would be intimidated by a young, middle-school Jake.**

**I have a question for all: Who would win in a staring contest between Old Quil? I have a poll, I want answers, so vote.**

**One more thing: there are 1344 pages of Eddio/Bellafail stories, and only 33 pages of Blackwater. I challenge all Blackwater writers to help me take over. I want to take over that number in the name of Blackwater. **

**Yes, Bellafail/Eddio supporters, that **_**is**_** a threat to your high page status. **

**Let's take over FF Blackwater fans, let's take over!**


End file.
